Genesis of the Cybernaut
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: Dr Armstrong brings the Cybernaut to life. Spoilers for the episodes "The Cybernauts" and "The Return of the Cybernauts" and lastly "Last of the Cybernauts...?"


I own nothing.

My very first The Avengers story which has spoilers for The Cybernaut stories of both "The Avengers" and in "The New Avengers."

Enjoy.

* * *

Genesis of the Cybernaut.

Dr Armstrong took a deep breath as he wheeled his chair forwards. The loading bay of his factory was hardly the most auspicious place he could use to test his new invention, but it was the most logical place to carry out the test if he wanted to maintain the projects' secrecy. Yes, conducting the experiment in a park might have been more adequate, but it was too risky if he just wanted to keep the invention secret.

The loading bay was silent and quiet and it was sealed away from the view of outsiders thanks to the tall walls, but truthfully he didn't really care where he held the experiment.

He was long past caring so long as his lifelong ambitions were realised.

Years and years of working for the government, trying to devise and construct the creation of a machine which had the means of accessing and handling toxic and radioactive waste, or entering environments hazardous inherently to humans, had failed because no-one was interested in the work he was trying to pioneer. Why was it always impossible for people, especially government types, to think constructively instead of destructively?

But then again the Ministry hadn't understood him. No-one really had in the past. Armstrong had learnt the hard way it was virtually impossible for many people to understand him or his theories and ideas, so it no longer bothered him that much. He had lived with it all of his life.

As a child, he had needed to contend with the lack of intelligence at school and university despite meeting other impressive intellects. Their attitudes towards him hadn't concerned him them, so it hadn't bothered him when the Ministry had not understood the reasons behind his ideas, although he knew his distaste and cynicism towards destructive ends had grated on them as well.

Armstrong didn't regret leaving the Ministry even if the reason for it was because of the accident he'd received when his laboratory was destroyed, the building was wrecked, and he'd been crippled while others had been injured.

Armstrong had used the money he had to found and create United Automations to help him fund his experiments, and he was thankfully free from the Ministry and the close-minded fools who ran and worked in it and believed the creation and the testing of _weapons _more important than actually trying to move on and to expand, while he used his expertise and proficiency in the still-new science of cybernetics.

A voice jarred him out of his thoughts, and he turned his head and found his assistant, Benson standing next to him.

"We're ready now, doctor," he said. Short and to the point, with just a hint of his nerves showing.

Armstrong looked around his fellow scientist, ignoring the tone of his voice and how he was clearly restraining the urge to stammer - Benson was a nervous, jittery man at the best of times despite his clear scientific proficiency although he had a talent for electronic engineering which had attracted Armstrong's attention.

Armstrong knew why his assistant was nervous. They had been working and preparing for this project for a long time now, and so many things had gone wrong. "Good Benson," Armstrong purred as he took note of Benson's shadow face beneath those thick black lenses. He heard a scuffle from behind Benson and spotted the tall, lean figure of Gough standing at the back, watching with a calm professional eye as he studied the control unit in front of him.

Armstrong narrowed his eyes sightly as he gazed at Gough. Unlike Benson, who seemed incapable of anything without giving into nerves when the pressure got too much for him although most of the times he held the calm rationality of a true scientist, Gough was a mechanic with a practical mind, but Armstrong didn't want Gough anywhere near his long-term plans. Armstrong was just incapable of working the other man out, and he didn't like that. Still, he had to admit he wouldn't have reached this level without Gough's engineering skills. Gough preferred to stand in the background and watch, but Armstrong had him here right now because he wanted suggestions from both men how his creation could be improved upon.

Armstrong directed his chair towards the light switch control on the console while Gough silently watched and flicked it on, revealing his invention.

Armstrong had known for a long time that to become constructive, he would need to change humanity. Not physically, no, but to take the next step. The 20th century was in the "Age of the Push Button," and inspired by Professor Keller's work on automation combined with his own knowledge of cybernetics, he had decided to make humanity truly accept the fact machines were changing around them. This was just the first step, really.

The lights turned on in a ring, and his creation appeared as if by magic. Armstrong turned a knob on the console, which activated the remote control function via direct radio control; the office in the factory was having a new computer wherein he could have cards programmed with complex equations which would also control his creation fitted in, but while this was comparatively primitive, it was still effective. Once the remote control function was activated and primed, Armstrong took a small delicate lever and moved it very gently.

His creation stepped forwards, metal feet clinking on the concrete floor of the loading bay. It walked slowly, as if it had just awoken from a deep sleep (Armstrong smiled to himself, knowing that his new invention didn't possess a form 'electronic brain,' yet he likened it to that of a child waking up, because in effect that was what it was, a child). To the scientist his creation was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen in his life.

It had the shape of a man. A very large and very tall man. Silver in colour. It was a robot, and while Armstrong knew the design was highly advanced for the current timeframe, he knew that it would take a long time to develop the technology of the robot and its control systems until it was truly perfect, but he had plenty of time for that. This was just the first test of where they were now. There were dozens more just waiting.

Armstrong had the robot walk around the loading bay slowly and he made notes as he put the machine through its paces. It would need to be possessing of the strongest but fastest limbs, among other things. But those were trivial difficulties. What was good now was the basic concept of what he wanted was here.

It moved obediently. Excellent. With or without an electronic brain more efficient than any computer available today, the robot would move obediently to any command.

Directing the robot towards a tower of dark boxes which had been piled on top of one another, Armstrong stopped the robot right in front of it. With a flick of the wrist on the control, the robot lifted its arm in a move reminiscent of a karate blow and delivered a lightning-fast chop. There was a sound similar to a swish, or a whip cracking, and the crates were knocked down.

Armstrong laughed while out to the corner of his eyes he noticed Benson and Gough's astonished reactions. He didn't understand it really since both men had already observed the original tests and knew how strong and precise the robotic limbs were, although this new prototype's limbs were considerably stronger and more durable than the early experiments.

Switching off the knob and discreetly taking away the control key of the console - he didn't want these two men to get any ideas, he trusted them but only to a point, and there was no guarantee they wouldn't try to take direct control of the robot and use it to kill him now so they could steal his inventions - and he slowly wheeled his chair towards his robotic creation, and he gently reached out a hand and touched it. The steel skin of the robot was cold to the touch, but Armstrong didn't take his hand away.

Asa cyberneticist he could see a hundred applications for an automated robot. As a machine designed for construction work, a more advanced version of the robot would be faster, more efficient. There would be no worries about heights, no breaks, just pure work in a fraction of the time it took human builders to carry out their work.

But there were other applications of a medical variety. Armstrong could already envision people who were crippled being provided with limbs that were better than their old ones, more efficient. It also led him to wonder if perhaps it was possible for humans to become more robotic… But he pushed those thoughts aside for the time being despite the fascination he had with the concept.

He turned to Benson and Gough.

"It's perfect," he smiled at them, marvelling at his genius while he rested his hand on the casing, "Henceforth, this robot shall be known…. as the Cybernaut," he said with a dramatic pause.

* * *

Author's note - Keller was a scientist fired by a younger Emma Peel long before she even met Steed. Driven by anger, he built a series of traps to get revenge on Emma in a house seen in the episode "The House that Jack Built." I just felt Armstrong would have been inspired by some of his work and theories although he would probably have reached some of the conclusions himself in the long-run.


End file.
